A Béninoise house help, Christian Hounvenon Yavine, told a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere on Wednesday that the police demanded N200,000 bribe, following which he was arraigned for murder of his employer’s mother.
Yavine, 17, was arraigned by the Lagos State Government on April 15, 2016, on one count charge of alleged murder before Justice Olwatoyin Ipaye.
Prosecuting counsel, A.A. George, said the incident happened on July 1, 2014, at Block 74, Flat 4, Ipaja Low Cost Housing Estate, Pen Cinema, Lagos.
George alleged that the defendant slashed the throat of the deceased, Mariam Atinuke Abiola, with a knife, while his employer, Ajoke Ashiwonyi Abiola, was in church.
But the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Opening his defence on Wednesday, Yavine, who was 14 at the time of the alleged offence and would be 18 on June 3, said the police demanded N200,000 each from him, his employer, Abiola and another man.
According to him, the others paid the sum and were freed.
Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Terry Ekweogu, the defendant denied making any confessional statement at Pen Cinema and Panti Police stations.
Led in evidence by his counsel, Demola Dere, Yavine testified that on June 30, 2014, his employer locked him and the deceased in separate rooms before leaving for a vigil.
According to him, there was also one Mr. Gbenga, who stayed in the house for about a week.
He said:
“That day my boss said she was going for vigil and that she was going to leave her mother at home with me. Before she left, she locked me inside a room and also locked her mother, who was sleeping, inside the parlour. She said when she returned, she would open the door.”
The defendant said when his boss arrived the next morning, she started banging on the door of the room where he was, asking him what happened to her mother.
“My boss said thieves came to attack the house and killed her mother. That morning there was one man that came into the house; I don’t know his name, I also didn’t know who called the police that same morning. Gbenga, who was with us, I couldn’t find him.”
When asked what the deceased was doing in the sitting room, the defendant said she slept in the parlour because she and her daughter usually quarreled if they slept in same room.
The Nation
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
